Ray Anderson is the former athletic director and current professor of law at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
.
He graduated from
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, where he lettered in football and baseball, and
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
.
Education
Anderson attended
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
. He played for the
Stanford
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
football team as a wide receiver and was also on the
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
team. He earned his degree in political science in 1976. He then graduated from
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
in 1979.
Sports administration career
NFL
Before joining the
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...
, Anderson was an agent for AR Sports. He was an agent to multiple
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
players alongside coaches. Some of the NFL head coaches he represented include
Brian Billick
Brian Harold Billick (born February 28, 1954) is an American former football coach and commentator. He was the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings from 1994 to 1998; the team broke the NFL scoring record in the 1998 season. He then ...
,
Tony Dungy
Anthony Kevin Dungy ( ; born October 6, 1955) is an American former professional football safety and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts ...
,
Dennis Green
Dennis Earl Green (February 17, 1949 – July 22, 2016) was an American football coach. During his National Football League (NFL) career, Green coached the Minnesota Vikings from 1992 to 2001 and the Arizona Cardinals from 2004 to 2006. He coa ...
, and
Herm Edwards
Herman Lee Edwards (born April 27, 1954) is an American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players ...
. From 2002 to 2006, Anderson was the vice president of the Falcons. Anderson would leave to become the NFL’s senior director of football operations and was later promoted to executive vice president of football operations. Anderson announced that he would step down from vice president of football operations in 2013 to pursue new opportunities.
Arizona State
On January 9, 2014, he was announced as the athletic director of the
Arizona State Sun Devils
The Arizona State Sun Devils are the sport, athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's Varsity team, varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Divisi ...
. During his time as athletic director, Anderson oversaw the $268 million renovation to
Sun Devil Stadium
Mountain America Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in Tempe, Arizona, located on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU). It is the home of the Arizona State Sun Devils football team of the Big 12 Conference. The stadium o ...
and the construction of
Mullett Arena
Mullett Arena (originally ASU Multi-Purpose Arena) is an indoor multipurpose arena at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.
The 5,000-seat arena is the home of the Arizona State Sun Devils men's ice hockey, men's ice hockey, Arizona State ...
. He also negotiated an eight-year, $38 million apparel agreement with
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...
, and added four varsity sports:
men’s hockey,
women’s lacrosse, triathlon, and men’s tennis. In 2016,
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
listed named Anderson as one of the influential minorities in sports.
In February 2021, Anderson received a five-year extension that runs until 2026. That extension made Anderson the second-highest paying athletic director in the country just behind of
Chris Del Conte, the athletic director of the
Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...
. In 2023, Anderson was in charge when most of the Sun Devils Athletics programs transitioned conferences from the
Pac-12
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...
to the
Big 12
The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...
. On November 13, 2023, he stepped down as athletic director to become a Professor in the
Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (ASU Law) is the law school at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona. The school is in the Beus Center for Law and Society on ASU's downtown Phoenix campus. Created in 1965 as the Arizona State Unive ...
.
Criticisms
Although he had some success as an athletic director, he has been heavily criticized by Arizona State fanbase for underperforming in major collegiate sports such as football and baseball. He has been criticized for keeping his former client and close friend,
Herm Edwards
Herman Lee Edwards (born April 27, 1954) is an American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players ...
, as head coach of the
football team
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...
, despite being in the middle of an NCAA investigation due to recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead period.
In 2020, Anderson was accused of ignoring sexual harassment allegations regarding an ASU booster. Former ASU employee, David Cohen filed a $1.5 million lawsuit after he said that Anderson fired him after he repeatedly ignored claims that Bart Wear, a prominent basketball booster, sexually harassed his wife and two other women. It was revealed that one of the two other women was the wife of
ASU basketball head coach
Bobby Hurley
Robert Hurley (born June 28, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils. He was previously the head coach at the University at Buffalo.
As a college senior, ...
. On June 21, 2021 Cohen announced a federal lawsuit against the school. Despite Bobby Hurley being at odds with Anderson, on March 23, 2023 Hurley received a two-year extension as head coach.
Anderson has also been criticized for not retaining
ASU softball head coach,
Trisha Ford
Trisha Lynn Ford (née Dean; born October 19, 1977) is an American college softball coach. She is the head softball coach at the Texas A&M University, a position she has held since the 2023 season. Ford served as the head softball coach at Saint ...
, who was a 2-time
Pac-12
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...
Softball Coach of the Year. She would leave and become the head coach of the
Texas A&M
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
softball program. Despite criticism and speculation, ASU president
Michael Crow stated in an
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
article on October 25, 2022, that Anderson will remain as Athletic Director.
Days after Arizona State joined the Big 12, Anderson received backlash from the
West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
fanbase and the media for a statement he made at a press conference. He quotes "I promise I'm not going to Morgantown... I'm going to sign that to Jean Boyd. He can go to Morgantown. But send me to Texas and the rivalry with Arizona and starting a new one with BYU and Utah and Colorado." Anderson later apologized to West Virginia athletic director, Wren Baker for making the comment. In 2023, Anderson received backlash from the Sun Devil fanbase, boosters, and the media for announcing a self-imposed bowl ban for the football program just days before the season opener.
He later stepped down in November 2023, after of barrage of controversies involving him. He stated "It has been a privilege to serve as ASU's athletic director for nearly a decade."
Personal life
Anderson and his wife, Buffie, have a son and a daughter.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Ray
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
African-American college athletic directors in the United States
Arizona State Sun Devils athletic directors
Stanford Cardinal baseball players
Stanford Cardinal football players
Harvard Law School alumni
21st-century African-American sportsmen
21st-century American sportsmen
Arizona State University faculty